This event will bring experts and the community together to discuss many of the concerns parents and teens have about media use. We will bring research evidence and practical advice to bear on understanding questions like: What realistic risks may teens face with their media use? How can teens benefit most from digital media? How can parents create and enforce appropriate boundaries for their teens’ media use to best balance risks and opportunities?

We will conclude with a half hour for parents to mix and mingle and compare strategies and experiences. Parents from all of the Newton middle schools are welcome.

About the participants:

Sonia Livingstone researches children and young people’s uses of the internet in Europe, and advises the UK government and European Commission on internet safety issues. She is author of Children and the Internet. Her children are now young adults, but they still advise her on her research!

David Luis Ortega is a licensed Psychologist in Cambridge, and a composer at Boston Soundlabs. He is an expert in both Family Therapy and game audio branding, development, and implementation. He lives in Winchester, MA with his wife and two children.

Nancy Baym is the author of Personal Connections in the Digital Age and a Principal Researcher with Microsoft Research New England. She is an expert on social media use in everyday relationships. She has a son in 8th grade at F.A. Day and a senior at Newton North.